Leading UK mobile network operators have refused to support a government plan that intends to improve coverage in rural areas by implementing national roaming.
Under the National roaming plan, UK customers will be able to use the network of any operator for voice calls in “not spots” – areas where their carrier has no coverage.
Sajid Javid, the culture secretary, looks at ‘national roaming’ as an important part of the UK government’s attempt to combat poor mobile coverage in rural areas ahead of the 2015 general elections.
According to the Financial Times report, citing unnamed sources, Minister for culture and the digital economy Ed Vaizey contacted 4 of the leading UK mobile operators to seek their approval on national roaming by the start of 2015, but the telecom giants rejected the idea on both technical as well as legal grounds.
Mobile operators rejected the idea claiming that the national roaming plan seems to be unworkable in the set timeframe and undesirable in principle, outlining its complexity and pushing for alternatives.
Following the rejection, Vaizey has requested the four operators involved – EE, O2 UK, Vodafone UK and Hutchison 3G UK (Three) – to come up with suggestions and ideas that they might have for enhancing coverage in UK rural areas.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is reportedly engaging in its own cost and benefit analysis of national roaming.
Mr Vaizey said the government is investing up to £150 milion under the Mobile Infrastructure Project to improve mobile coverage in areas where there is no network coverage from any of the mobile network operators.
In addition, the project also aims to improve service in UK areas, where some but not all MNOs are present, including national roaming.
